SOCIAL NETWORK AND MENTAL HEALTH OF OLDER CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN AFFORDABLE SENIOR HOUSING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract Chinese older immigrants who live in senior housing communities are at high risks of experiencing discrimination and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines how and to what extent the pandemic has affected this population’s social network and mental health. Participants reported a decrease in social contact with their family and friends. Before the pandemic, many paid regular visits back to the home country and could not do so in the past two years. The loss of connection left some feeling despaired and expressed uncertainty on whether they could ever go back “home” before death. Participants also reported being in a low mood and feeling bored constantly. Participants reported resilience generated from their religious beliefs, having neighbors as role models, and wisdom learned from past life experiences. Knowledge produced in this project can inform the planning for responding to future crises in affordable senior housing.


PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO IMPENDING AND PAST LOSS OF A LOVED ONE
Holly Prigerson, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City, New York, United States Psychological responses to an impending or recent death have received minimal attention in the research literature. I will present data to demonstrate the high levels of psychological distress (e.g. symptoms of peritraumatic stress, anxiety, depression and grief) reported by caregivers of a loved one with a life-threatening illness. I will report on studies that have examined how grief symptoms change over time, or not, as in the case of symptoms of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) -a new addition to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -5-Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). A case will then be made for addressing psychological struggles of caregivers of patients who are dying in the intensive care unit (ICU). I will then present a conceptual model and manual of our psychosocial intervention (EMPOWER), which we designed to reduce symptoms of PGD and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by targeting symptoms of experiential avoidance and promoting adaptive coping.

HOW DO INTERPERSONAL FACTORS AFFECT GRIEF AMONG BLACK MIDDLE-TO OLDER-AGED ADULTS?
Danielle McDuffie, The University of Alabama/ Durham VAMC, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States This talk will explore: 1) the conceptual importance of select interpersonal factors inherent to Black culture and bereavement, and 2) the impact of these factors on grief in a Black bereaved sample. 103 Black adults aged 45+ were administered items assessing cultural (communalism, experienced racial violence) and bereavement-specific (expectancy and suddenness of loss, closeness to the deceased, anger) factors. Using linear regressions, closeness (p<.001), suddenness (p=.020), anger (p<.001), and communalism (p<.001) predicted reported levels of grief. This study identifies factors which substantially dictate the experienced levels of grief of bereaved Black adults in the latter half of life. With cultural factors notably impacting the Black bereavement experience, individuals seeking to work with this population must adopt strategies to keep bereaved Black adults connected to their communities throughout their loss. Resources to support Black adults in maintaining healthy continuing bonds with the deceased through abrupt or unsettling losses also appear paramount.

LIVED EXPERIENCES OF OLDER CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING DURING THE PANDEMIC: STRESS AND RESILIENCE
Chair: Kexin Yu Co-Chair: Iris Chi Discussant: Fei Sun Older immigrants in affordable housing have unique sets of challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic posed by limited English proficiency and resources. The aggregated living condition could increase their risk of being exposed to the contagious disease. This symposium reports empirical findings of the social Network of Immigrant Chinese older adults in affordable Housing Environment (NICHE) project, which focused on the influence of COVID-19 on underprivileged Chinese older immigrants. We conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with foreign-born older Chinese immigrants (mean age 78.1, 69.23% female) in an affordable housing in Los Angeles to learn about their lived experiences and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first presentation focused on the changes in older Chinese immigrants' social life after the onset of the pandemic and aimed to understand the pandemic's impact on their depressive symptoms and loneliness. The second presentation describes older Chinese immigrants' perceived pandemic-related stressors and resilience across phases of the pandemic, including at the beginning, after they got vaccinated, and the rising of delta variant.
The participants explained what supportive services had been helpful and what support they wished they could have over the past two years in the pandemic. The third presentation reports the experience of being discriminated against during the pandemic, the Chinese older adults' attitudes towards these discriminatory events, and coping strategies. Together, these three presentations will depict the lived experience of Chinese immigrants over two years during the pandemic and discuss intervention strategies and policy considerations for preparing for future crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese older immigrants who live in senior housing communities are at high risks of experiencing discrimination and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines how and to what extent the pandemic has affected this population's social network and mental health. Participants reported a decrease in social contact with their family and friends. Before the pandemic, many paid regular visits back to the home country and could not do so in the past two years. The loss of connection left some feeling despaired and expressed uncertainty on whether they could ever go back "home" before death. Participants also reported being in a low mood and feeling bored constantly. Participants reported resilience generated from their religious beliefs, having neighbors as role models, and wisdom learned from past life experiences. Knowledge produced in this project can inform the planning for responding to future crises in affordable senior housing.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States, 2. Oregon Health & Science University, Palo Alto, California, United States
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged older Chinese immigrants' lives in physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects. This study employed a socioecological perspective of resilience to examine how older Chinese immigrants perceived and navigated through pandemic-related adversities. We conducted a time-bound retrospective qualitative investigation to capture participants' lived experiences between December 2019 to August 2021. Three phases of the pandemic-related adversities were identified, including uncertain threats and psychological impacts at the beginning, unmet needs and fatigue at 2nd and 3rd wave of infections, and benefit-risk balance after vaccinated. Despite adversities, the integration of strengths, opportunities, and social services at the individual, interpersonal, and neighborhood levels allows participants to appraise and individualize their problem-focus coping (e.g., risk mitigation), selective engagement (e.g., maintaining habits through other means), or emotion-focus coping strategies (e.g., acceptance). Findings highlight the importance of personal and community resources in fostering resilient responses. Discriminatory events against Asians, especially Chinese, became rampant during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is difficult for older Chinese immigrants to effectively protect themselves from racism-related attacks due to their personal and social disadvantages. This study explored older Chinese immigrants' experience of discrimination and coping strategies, as well as factors that influence their perceptions, attitudes, and coping preferences. Among 27 interviewees, 11 experienced discriminatory incidents themselves or known people around had been discriminated against during the pandemic. Thematic analysis revealed negative psychological impact of discrimination risk or experience. Most participants tended to adopt disengagement coping styles, such as avoidance, rationalization, and reducing social participation. Three primary influencing factors are: (1) perceived unkindness from government and public opinions; (2) concern for own health; (3) limited acculturation. Our findings suggest needing efforts to protect the safety of older Chinese immigrants, and raise their awareness and ability to defend themselves from racism and discrimination.

NORTH AMERICAN CONTEXTS USING COMPUTERIZED NETWORKS TO IMPROVE CARE DELIVERY FOR OLDER ADULTS
Chair: Gregory Alexander Evidence shows that technology provides a means to improve communication and quality of care, through greater efficiencies in information management. However, research demonstrates that technology use does not consistently improve care. Therefore, there is a continuing need globally to evaluate and discuss the impact of technology in clinical care, especially in settings where older people have higher care needs. The panel includes five interdisciplinary experts with backgrounds in care delivery systems for older adults, engineering, informatics, health systems, quality improvement, mobile health, medicine, and nursing from the U.S. and Canada. This expert panel has three objectives: 1) Describe informatics research initiatives using computerized networks to improve care delivery for older adults, 2) Contrast information technologies used to manage information in health systems caring for older adults, and 3) Explain opportunities to improve health information technology systems used in care delivery for older adults.

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN NURSING HOME IT MATURITY AND UTIS AMONG LONG-TERM NH RESIDENTS Gregory Alexander, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States
Prof. Alexander will present a study linking national nursing home (NH) health information technology (HIT) to quality. This research explores relationships between NH HIT maturity and UTIs examined during a repeated cross-sectional study over 4 consecutive years (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017). HIT maturity represents the diversity of technology use in NHs. Researchers conducted bivariate and multivariate regressions using MDS 3.0 resident assessments and post stratified survey weights controlling for NH characteristics. Our sample included 816 NHs. These NHs had 219,730 regular NH resident assessments within 90 days of a survey, representing 80,322 unique NH residents. Of these assessments, 4.1% recorded a UTI. In the multivariate analyses, administrative HIT capabilities was associated with lower odds of UTI (AOR: 0.906, 95% CI: 0.843, 0.973), controlling for covariates. Integration of administrative HIT systems may relieve the burden of tracing UTIs, data documentation and record retrieval affording NH staff time to focus their efforts on clinical care. Aging, 2022, Vol. 6, No.S1